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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: land · mate · wind · kid · shower · snap · net · ground

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. wind — moving air
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. land — to come down
  5. net — for catching
  6. ground — the earth
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. net — in sport
  9. snap — to click
  10. ground — crushed
  11. wind — moving air
  12. shower — to wash
  13. kid — to tease
  14. land — ground
  15. net — after costs
  16. mate — a partner
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — rain
  19. land — a country
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. ground — a position
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. mate — to breed
  24. mate — a friend

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com